


A Potion for Loneliness

by CatiFrey



Category: Changeling (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Mutual Pining, Not Canon Compliant, Tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 06:24:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17740553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatiFrey/pseuds/CatiFrey
Summary: When Shelly sees her friend looking dejected, she decides to try and cheer him up. Somehow.This one was inspired by a prompt I saw on Tumblr.





	A Potion for Loneliness

Shelly dropped a few things at her locker and checked her phone. She had one message from her mom, asking to come help out at the shop after school that day. A club meeting was planned after class, but it shouldn’t be a problem to get out of it, so the Witch texted back she would be there. Having done that, she closed the locker, readjusted her bag’s shoulder strap and was just about to head to the next class when she spotted William standing a little ways away, looking positively miserable.

Truth be told, he often looked dejected, and not without a good reason. Everyone in the club knew he didn’t have it easy. Not that many other members did, quite the contrary in fact, but in his case it was exceptional. Everybody felt sorry for him, but nobody knew how to help. Neither did she. But seeing his unhappy face as he stood there alone while other people passed him by, she would be damned if she didn’t at least try. Her mind made up, she approached him cautiously.

“William? Are…are you okay?” She asked quietly.

He looked up to see her standing before him with a concerned expression on her face, fidgeting a little like she always did when she was nervous. He blinked, as if uncertain if she really was there. The look on his face made her want to reach out and touch his cheek. But it would be embarrassing to do something like that with all those people around, so she didn’t. Instead, she gave him an encouraging smile.

“Listen…um, there is no time right now, and I can’t come to the club meeting today, my mom asked me to come to the shop…But if you need something, anything at all, do come by. I…I mean…you don’t have to if you don’t want. Just…consider it. Okay?”

He only nodded and she smiled again before giving him a little wave and walking off to get to her class.

Some time later that day she was sitting at the table in a little kitchen at her parents’ shop. She replaced her blazer, now hanging on a hook, with an apron and rolled up the sleeves of her shirt. Water in a kettle on the stove behind her was slowly reaching boiling temperature while the Witch busied herself with finely grinding some herbs in a mortar and chatting with Simon. At one point, the cat’s ears twitched and he stretched, before hopping off the table he’d been lying on.

“Leaving, Simon?” Shelly asked him.

 _Yes. I think I’ll go have a nap in the back. You are about to have other company_ , he said cryptically and left.

She didn’t have much time to be surprised because just a moment after the cat left the kitchen, her mom walked in with someone following her.

“Shell, you have a guest”, she said and stepped aside to invite the person she lead into the kitchen, then left.

It was William.

Shelly blushed a little, but smiled, always happy to see him. And glad that he decided to take her up on her offer. She set the mortar and herbs she’d been grinding aside and invited him to sit in the other chair by the table.

“I’m glad you came. What can I do for you?”

He seemed uncertain for a moment, as if still trying to make up his mind before he finally stammered out quietly, “Do…do you have something for…for loneliness?”

She considered his question for a second, then nodded.

“As a matter of fact…I do. And your timing happens to be perfect, I was just about to try it out myself. Just a moment. Here, have a cookie while you wait.”

She placed a plate of said baked goods on the table, then turned to the stove and turned it off. William watched her grab a glass jar of…something off a shelf and scoop some into a small pot, then pour some hot water from the kettle onto it. The air in the kitchen filled with slightly flowery and tangy-sweet fragrance, surprisingly soothing. While the potion brewed, she grabbed two cups from the cupboard and placed them on the table, before finally pouring the contents of the teapot into them and handing one to him. That’s when he also smelled earl grey.

He looked up at her confused.

“This is…tea?”

“That’s right,” she said calmly, sitting down at the table again and wrapping her hands around her own cup. “What’s on your mind?”


End file.
